


te ne te ne

by gypsumgreen



Category: Underworld Office
Genre: AAAAAAAAAAAA, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Writing, Gen, Help, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Going to Hell, Maybe - Freeform, No beta we die like illiterates, Pls don't kill me, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Time Loop, based on hetaoni, eugene is a sweetheart and i am a monster, look i just want everyone to be happy but here i am, things happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28124970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gypsumgreen/pseuds/gypsumgreen
Summary: Eugene has so much time yet so little time.
Relationships: Boss & Eugene, Charlie & Eugene, Hayden & Eugene, Joan & Eugene, Luke & Eugene, Luke & Kitty, River & Boss, River & Eugene, Sean & Eugene, Sean & Linda
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	te ne te ne

**Author's Note:**

> Title based off [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clq66AiEvSk). If you can't find the comment explaining it, basically in Japanese to sleep is to 寝て (ne te) but the song keeps repeating it along with other phrases (wake, work, eat) so it becomes sort of mixed up and you hear "te ne" instead. Basically the monotony of a repeating life, over and over again (and I know that it's referring to life itself but it simply fits this fic a lot so-).  
> Hope you find reading this enjoyable!

Eugene dreams about this often. A mirror and him, standing before it. The room is barren. Just him and his reflection.

It’s terrifying. The person in the mirror is him, but not him. This Eugene laughs at him without moving a muscle. Sees through him, tells him that he isn’t enough, that he simply can never be and why try at all?

And when he wakes - well, things aren’t any better, but they’re not him, looking upon himself, judging with the intensity of a wildfire tearing through a forest.

* * *

He isn’t a good person. He knows that. He prefers to think otherwise.

(Eugene tried, he really did. He just wasn’t about to risk Luke for his cat - Kitty’s dead, better the living than the dead, right?

And… and maybe he’s just selfish. Now he’s gone and made Kitty upset, despite only getting to know him after death. 

Guilt nibbles at his feet.)

* * *

The sea of people push against him, and somehow he feels like suffocating, drowning in the lively chatter. Would anyone notice if he disappears? 

* * *

That man has a shadow following him, grasping at him. Eugene stops his pace and glances at the man. Or the ghost.

“Huh?” slips out of him. He’s never seen a ghost haunting someone in broad daylight.

“What? You know me?” the man says. His voice is gruff. It suits him, this man with a face of unshaved hair and a ghost trailing after him.

“N… no.” Eugene says, flinching. 

“Then why the hell did you ‘huh’ me? You wanna fight? Huh?” He steps towards Eugene threateningly, a fist raised, as if preparing to beat up the kid he just met.

“I’m… I’m sorry. I apologise.” Eugene shrinks back. The man sneers.

“Such a tiny brat trying to pick a fight with me, tsk.” he spits and turns away.

...What is this feeling? This man feels familiar. Perhaps the miasma around him, maybe, perhaps the malevolent ghost following him. 

He feels like he should follow the man.

* * *

The alleyway doesn’t have a lot of people. One sleeps with needles. Another doesn’t seem to be present, despite open eyes.

He hurries behind the man. He turns again, and he follows immediately. There is a slight trepidation eating away at him, his intuition screaming at him. He pushes it down.

 _Be careful._ Luke said. He hesitates, but the man is already some distance away. He follows the man.

_Good or bad, dying only takes a second._

If something bad happens... 

_…Something doesn’t feel right._ He quickens his footsteps, desperate to finish whatever self-appointed mission he’s on.

_...Huh? Where did he go? I could swear that he turned this way…_

“You… !” a growl sounds behind him. He screams and tries to run, but the man grabs his neck from behind. The fingers close on his windpipe and he can’t breathe - he can’t breathe.

The man yells at him. Something about following him and knowing something but Eugene can’t hear him. 

“H..Help…” he whimpers in vain, knowing that there’s no one who can save him. The ghosts perhaps, but he… he can’t call for them. Not after being kicked out.

The fingers loosen, but the damage is already done. Eugene feels his lungs working in overdrive, desperate for air, but his breath is shallow and slow, not enough, not enough, _not enough._

The world dissolves out of view.

_I’m sorry._

_Boss… Boss'll probably be mad, huh? Will I even return?_

_Just when I’ve befriended Luke, too…_

_I was too naive..._

* * *

Eugene wakes, gasping. He gingerly touches his throat, feeling the phantom fingers wrapped around him just a moment ago.

_Was that a dream...? It felt so real._

Everything is the same. Luke doesn't look at him, content on chatting with his friends. He listens in, not eavesdropping, just a few particular sentences uttered out loud. They're the same as he dreamt. The children on the playground don't seem to are much about him, repeating the same actions. 

Eugene falls asleep on the train again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Updates may be sporadic since ~~I'm lazy~~ I wrote this purely out of speculation and fun but I look forward to writing more of this!  
> Leave a kudo and/or comment is you like this, it helps a lot.


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